


FF7 Rarepair Week 2018

by YdrittE



Series: Fandom Events [4]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Amnesia, Casual Tentacles, Cell Phones, Characters Being Drawn To Water, Dubious Consent, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Memory Loss, Mild Sexual Content, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mind Control, Nightmares, Non-Explicit Sex, Not So Casual Tentacles, Other, Phone Conversations, Puppet!Sephiroth, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-15 03:43:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13604817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YdrittE/pseuds/YdrittE
Summary: All entries of the Rarepair Week.





	1. No Rapture For Me

**Author's Note:**

> Feb.16 || Day 1. Hobbies  
> Jenova/Sephiroth  
> With them as a happy, silly couple on the one hand, and her controlling and abusing him on the other, I went the middle path and did myself a sad. That’s… not exactly how I meant to start off this week, but ok.

It’s always summer on the southern islands.

The wind coming from the sea is warm and tastes of salt, and no matter how far inland one goes, the sound of the waves will follow. Jenova has always liked it here.

And whenever the air smells dry enough to be sure it won’t rain too hard anytime soon, she makes for the beach. Sephiroth follows quietly, close enough for her to easily be able to reach out with her mind and make sure he’s alright, and only stops once they reach the water.

Sometimes she wonders whether he’s still in there somewhere. Whether some part of him, deep down, remembers. He doesn’t talk anymore, hasn’t in a very long time, but his emotions are still clear enough for her to read. She has gotten very good at that.

Sephiroth doesn’t like the open sea. She can’t quite discern why, his feelings are too vague and fleeting and confusing for that. Maybe it’s the fact that there is _too much_ out there. She isn’t sure. So while Jenova goes out into the bay to fish for pretty knick-knacks or swim with the dolphins a bit, Sephiroth stays safely ashore and wanders the beach, sandy and rocky parts alike, and occasionally sits by one of the many tidepools, staring into the water.

Sooner or later she always join him, and sits next to him, waiting until he manages to tear his eyes away from the swaying plants and little creatures scurrying about in those ponds, and is ready to move on a bit. They don’t get far in one day, but that’s alright. There’s no hurry anymore, no need to rush for anything. They have time.

She meant to leave this planet behind long ago, but Sephiroth’s fondness of it and its creations had held her back, delayed them time and time again. Just one more year, he would beg of her, one more year with sunshine and gnarly tree roots, spicy food and the ocean on the horizon. One more year, and then another, and another.

She knows now that they should have left when they had the chance.

Jenova had lived thousands of years, had changed bodies and built herself new ones, had passed through countless planets’ spirit realms and emerged on the other side exactly like she’d been before. And with how much Sephiroth resembled her in genetic structure, she had simply assumed it would be the same for him.

Except it wasn’t.

His body was like hers, but the mind inhabiting it had never been fully able to shed its human roots… and so the Lifestream had eaten away at him with every year that passed, taking away more and more of who he was. He had started forgetting, words at first and then people and things that had happened and then, finally, himself.

It had happened slowly, gradually, and she almost didn’t pick up on it. What did it matter if he couldn’t think of the name of a certain flower, and three years later didn’t know what the colour of a Third Class Soldier uniform had been, back when Soldier still existed? For a long time neither of them even _noticed_ that Sephiroth was forgetting names, until one day for whatever reason they spoke of Avalanche, and he realized the only one whose name was still there was Cloud.

Ever so slowly, the full extent of the gaps in his memory became clear. Sephiroth was scared, of course – how else would he react? He still lived with the human urge to leave something behind, to hold onto the memories and keep them close. Enough time had gone by that all records of past events were gone and nobody left to pass on the tales. So if he forgot, who would still be left to remember it? Jenova tried to calm him, told him how much she had forgotten in all the time she’d been alive, and that it was a natural process for beings like them. But for some reason it didn’t seem to bring him any comfort. He just kept counting the gaps in his memories, and got frustrated trying to remember what he was missing.

Jenova isn’t sure when he forgot her name, and their plans to sail the stars. She didn’t dare ask because she knew it would upset him.

The air is colder now, tasting of the snow that this time of year is still falling in the northern regions. She takes his hand, and gently pulls him to his feet, giving his mind a gentle nudge and directing it towards the setting sun on the horizon to signal it’s time to go.

Back then, simply saying _‘It’s getting late’_ would have sufficed, but those days are long gone, and Sephiroth doesn’t understand human language anymore. She would have thought it ironic, that he is now the way she was when she came to this planet, if she didn’t miss the connection she used to have with him so much, the unspoken understanding of what they were.

No matter how many languages Jenova forgot, she always learned new ones to communicate with… but Sephiroth lacks the means to do that, it seems.

One day she will leave this planet, and take him with her. She knows it will terrify him after so many centuries of ignorance, but it’s a necessary evil. And who knows… maybe the shock of losing his body and joining her in her true form would be enough to bring him back.

But not right now, Jenova decides. Not while the sun on their skin is so warm, and the water of the tidepool so clear and soft, and the sounds of the ocean so soothing. This far south the winters don’t reach, and while up north storms bury ancient ruins of civilizations long gone under snow and ice, all kinds of creatures come to these lands to find shelter from harsh weather. There will be dolphins swimming in the bay and birds nesting in the rocks and red lions to share tales with.

And one more year won’t hurt. Just one more year, or maybe two.

Or maybe twenty, or a thousand.

Jenova has time. All the time in the world.


	2. Sensitive Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE TURN ON CREATOR’S MODE BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T THIS WILL ALL FALL APART VERY, VERY QUICKLY.
> 
> Feb. 17 || Day 2. “We can make it through together!”/Defeating Challenges  
> Tseng/Kunsel  
> Something less sad today, aka two people throwing sass at each other for five minutes. I was originally going to write this out normally, but kinda didn’t feel like it. So I went for… whatever this is instead.  
> Also, fuck pictures. And fuck timestamps. Nobody needs those.

???  
  
hey do you have the codes to access camera footage of the labs? preferably before thursday  
  
Who are you and how did you get this number?  
  
Hello? Who is this?  
  
oh shit sorry man. wrong number. nvm  
  
What do you need camera footage of the labs for?  
  
kind of a long story. wouldnt want to bore you  
  
I got time  
  
damn youre a lazy bastard arent ya? let me guess - turks?  
  
need the footage for a friend. nothing major, not gonna hurt the company. just trying to win a bet  
  
And I’m supposed to believe that?  
  
yes please?  
  


???  
  


Have you won that bet yet?

ages ago. why dyou ask?

i already told you it wasnt gonna hurt the company. no need to worry

Do you still have the access codes?

ohhhhhh so thats what this is about

did hojo change them again to lock you guys out?

Something of the sort

how much are you willing to pay for the codes?

Excuse me

i wasnt born yesterday. info is one of the most valuable goods within this hellhole of a company

so, how much?

???  
  


How much do you want?

one

One…?

name. yours, to be exact. 

What for?

well first of all so i can add your name to the contact. second: because its info. duh.

dont worry i wont use it as blackmail or anything. unless you give me a reason to

we got a deal?

Tseng

holy shit i got the leader himself! 

shouldve figured from the one word answers

The access codes, if you please.

oh right.

1729 over 42, 12 over 407

Huh. It actually worked.

How did you even get these?

i got my sources

also how dare you doubt my info

And I’m correct in assuming you’re not going to tell me your sources?

you dont need my sources when you have me

I can’t even be sure if the information you provide is reliable.

Besides, paying you for info is going to affect the budget. We cannot afford that.

i never said i wanted money in return for the info

im sure we can find some other arrangement

???  
  


hojo changed the codes again

just thought you should know

You have the new codes already?!

how did you know?

You wouldn’t be texting me otherwise.

How much?

hehe. you learn quick.

got any embarrassing pictures of rufus?

...

Define ‘embarrassing’.

not serious enough to cause a scandal but effective enough to get results

[Download picture (3,1MB)]

thats… strangely adorable 

If this ever gets connected to me I will find you and kill you. 

And then revive you and kill you again.

aight

security cipher is the same as last time but backwards

Goddammit.

???  
  
im pretty sure hojo is onto me what with how often he keeps changing the cipher  
  
at this point im just going to end up having a collection of mildly embarrassing childhood pictures of rufus lying around that ill never end up using  
  
I have mildly embarrassing pictures of the President instead if you want.  
  
ahaha no thank you. i can live without those nightmares  
  
So what will it be today?  
  
how about some mildly embarrassing pictures of you?  
  
...  
  
Define ‘embarrassing’.  
  
whatever you wouldnt want your coworkers to see  
  
That does not narrow it down.  
  
in that case dickpics  
  
How about no.  
  
shirtless?  
  
You’re really not making this easy, are you?  
  
hey, its not fun without a little bit of challenge!  
  


???  
  
hows life without camera access codes?  
  
[Download picture (2,8MB)]  
  
oh damn. nice abs!  
  
he changed the code back to what it originally was  
  
I hate you.  
  


???  
  
[Download picture (3,2MB)]  
  
what did I do to be blessed with more abs? hojo didnt even change anything  
  
Since I already have my shirt off, I might as well use the opportunity to ensure that the next time they change I won’t need to take half naked pictures of myself in the company bathroom.  
  
sounds reasonable  
  
[Download picture (3,1MB)]  
  
…what was that for?  
  
im ensuring that the next time they change youll have to take half naked pics of yourself in the company bathroom  
  
were even again  
  
SOLDIER, eh?  
  
Interesting.  
  
good luck trying to find me based on my abs  
  
I can estimate your height  
  
i can estimate your dick size  
  
Based on what?  
  
imagination  
  


???  
  
hows the search going?  
  
Moderately well. I have managed to deduce that you’re not Sephiroth  
  
wow  
  
how did you manage to become part of the turks again?  
  
Slept with the right people.  
  
nice  
  


???  
  
you were kidding about that right?  
  
about sleeping with the right people?  
  
Maybe.  
  
Why do you ask?  
  
how would you feel about sleeping with someone to get info?  
  
Did Hojo change the codes again?  
  
you havent answered my question  
  
And you haven’t answered mine.  
  
yeah he did  
  
7pm, my place  
  
I assume you know where I live?  
  
uhhh yeah  
  
Alright then.  
  
See you at seven.  
  
...  
  
...  
  
what the fuck just happened  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so glad you all can’t see what this looks like in the “Rarepair Week 2018” Word Document that the one-shots are all saved in. Watch me lowkey steal security ciphers from SOMA.


	3. What Else Is New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feb. 18 || Day 3. “You’re dating/friends with /who/?”  
> Jenova/Sephiroth   
> The only way I apparently know how to write Cloud is ‘perpetually fed up with Sephiroth’s bullshit’ and ‘just wants to have one normal day in his life please’. And also ‘accidentally adopting chocobos’ as of now.

Tifa had a feeling she knew what was up the moment the phone started ringing. A feeling which turned into absolute certainty when she saw that it was an anonymous call.

There was only one reason someone would do that.

“Don’t you dare” she told Cloud, who had gotten up from his seat at the bar and tried to inconspicuously leave the room “We both know this is for you”

“But I don’t _want_ to travel to the other side of the planet. It’s _movie night_ ” he complained, but Tifa threw him a warning glance and picked up the phone.

After a few seconds of listening to the garbled voice on the other end she held it out to Cloud.

“Reno says he’d like to talk to you”

“Tell Reno he can shove that phone up his ass for all I care, I’m not gonna miss movie night just because Sephiroth has gotten bored of the Lifestream again”

“Tell Cloud I still need that phone and also Sephiroth is in Mideel and can he _please_ go take care of that” Reno’s voice could be heard coming out of the speaker of the phone Tifa was still holding between them.

Cloud let out a defeated groan and dropped his head onto the bar counter. “I swear to Gaia that silverhaired prick is going to be the death of me” he mumbled to no one in particular.

 

Under normal circumstances Cloud would have been more than happy to spend a bit of time in Mideel. It was one of the most relaxed towns on the entire continent, after all - which might have been due to the excessive amount of Lifestream energy floating about, but nobody was really sure because every scientist who had tried to investigate the source of the local population’s extreme chillness had ended up quitting their job and moved there to be a farmer or something. At least half the town’s inhabitants were former ShinRa personnel.

This inherent chillness was probably also the reason why no one was freaking out about the fact that Sephiroth had climbed out of a Lifestream-filled hole in the ground and started raiding the shops a few hours ago, and was currently sorting through his stolen treasures in the middle of the town square. It was a wonder the Turks had heard about it all, really.

Cloud loosened his swords in their sheath – just in case – as he made his way towards his archenemy, who was sitting with his legs crossed and busy examining a live baby chocobo that he was holding in his palms with the utmost care. When he heard the footsteps behind him he looked over his shoulder and, upon seeing who was coming towards him, quickly set down the little blue bird (which ran up to Cloud chirping loud enough to wake a sleeping Dragon) and got to his feet.

“Good to see you, Cloud” he purred, summoning Masamune.

Cloud tried very hard to ignore the ball of feathers running around his ankles as he drew his swords. “Let’s just get this over with, you asshole. I don’t have all day”

“Well, that’s quite a happy coincidence because neither do I” Sephiroth replied, grinning mischievously “Mother is waiting back home. I need to bring her these gifts”

Cloud shook his head. “And _that’s_ your excuse for stealing a bunch of shit from defenceless villagers?”

They stalked around each other in a careful circle, swords at the ready, each waiting for the other to make a move.

“These gifts will be an offering, to please Mother!” Sephiroth explained, still smiling “She demands to be worshipped… and what kind of lover would I be to refuse her?”

Cloud almost stumbled over the (still firmly attached to his heels) chocobo at those words, and needed a moment to regain his balance. “You’re- wait _what_?!” he sputtered.

That was unusually suggestive-sounding - even by Sephiroth’s standards, who was prone to phrasing things weirdly like that.

“Why so surprised? This is the same thing I’ve told you time and time again ever since I invited you to the Reunion all those years ago. Mother and I are meant to be, destined to sail the stars and rule the galaxy. We are together as one!”

Cloud thought he had misheard. He knew Sephiroth was irrationally fond of his so-called ‘mother’, but this seemed a bit extreme. “You’re… together with Jenova” he repeated, which earned him an impatient, chiding look from Sephiroth.

“Didn’t I just _say_ that?”

“You did, but- are we talking like _together_ together or-?” Cloud asked, unsure of whether he really wanted an answer. There was still a chance this was just Sephiroth’s socially awkward, rhetorically unskilled former human self who was infamous for accidentally making things sound sexual shining through.

Sephiroth furrowed his brows. “I’m not quite sure what you’re implying, Cloud”

“Me neither, buddy” Cloud mumbled to himself.

“Either way, if you’re done asking silly questions – I need to get going. Mother is waiting for me, and she would be very displeased if I’m late again”

And with that, Sephiroth made Masamune disappear into thin air and turned around to collect the wares he had stolen. “Goodbye, Cloud! See you at the next Reunion” he called out while waving with his one free hand, and trotted off towards the forest.

Cloud stood staring after him for several minutes, until one of the residents came up next to him and woke him from his stupor by asking “You’re going to pay for that stuff he took, right?”

 

“How did it go? You don’t look like you’ve been stabbed at all” Tifa greeted him when he shuffled back into Seventh Heaven a few hours later. The other guests threw him sympathetic glances, but nobody dared make a comment. Everyone knew Cloud hated chasing down Sephiroth.

“Sephiroth is fucking Jenova” he announced after collapsing into one of the barstools.

Tifa didn’t even bat an eye and continued mixing her drink. “Yeah, so. What else is new?”

“Did you even listen? Sephiroth is _fucking Jenova_!” Cloud repeated. He couldn’t believe Tifa was so calm about this!

She finally set down the bottle and looked at him with a very strange expression.

“Cloud” she said in a voice usually reserved for the kids when they had trouble with a very simple and self-explanatory exercise in their homework “Sephiroth has been fucking Jenova since the moment he found out she existed. Why do you think her final form in the Northern Crater had _tentacles_?!”

“To attack us with?” he answered, but Tifa’s facial expression told him otherwise. His eyes went wide as he realized what that meant. “Wait a second. She _slapped_ us with those! That’s-”

“Cloud” Tifa said warningly, but he was already on his feet and starting to pace up and down the room in distress.

“What- what the fuck?! She _slapped_ us with tentacles that had been _up Sephiroth’s ass_!!”

His outburst was interrupted as Tifa slammed her balled fist on the counter with enough force to make the bottles behind her rattle and threaten to fall off the shelves. “Cloud, can you _please_ keep it down. Some people come here to _eat_. There are _children_ present” she said, unable to decide whether to yell or laugh and thus settling for doing neither.

Cloud went beet red and mumbled an unintelligible apology, and then sat back down at the bar. Seventh Heaven was quiet except for some (probably drunk) patron in one of the corners who was giggling his ass off.

Tifa sighed. “Seriously, Cloud, I thought you _knew_ that”

“How was I supposed to know something like _that_?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe by not being completely oblivious to the things going on around you? Even _Yuffie_ noticed, and she spent most of the Northern Crater trying to keep an eye on all our ten thousand pieces of material at once! Hell, _Barret_ noticed!”

Cloud opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden outburst of chirping coming from his coat pocket. Tifa stared at him, and then rubbed her temple with a groan. “Please tell me you didn’t adopt _another_ chocobo” she said from between grit teeth.

“Sephiroth would have fed it to his monster mom if I hadn’t saved it” Cloud explained, and ducked his head apologetically. He lifted the blue chick from his pocket to show to his friend. “Look, isn’t it adorable?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know either why Cloud and Sephiroth took out their swords, walked around each other in circles for a bit and then just went their separate ways. Maybe that’s just a thing they do?  
> ‘Post-story Sephiroth casually stealing absolutely everything’ is one of my favourite headcanons btw. Food, clothes, baby kittens – you name it, he steals it. Mostly for Jenova.


	4. The Lady Of The Lake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was already writing water, so a ‘nature’ prompt fit very nicely into my plans. This btw is the story that I kept bitching about on Tumblr around two weeks ago… it was still fun to write (even though it was a pain, I’ll admit), and I’m proud of how it turned out. Also please note how nobody’s name is mentioned anywhere, ever. What the fuck.

The first thing he remembered in his life was floating, and the way that sounds were dulled through liquid, and how light would turn to green.

And this was home to him.

It did not last. It never did. They dragged him up, made him breathe air, put clothes on him to wear and put a sword into his hand to use on those that they called ‘enemies’. He did not know what else to do, so he obeyed.

They never let him back into the water, and instead would say that it was dangerous for him, that there were monsters hiding there that sought to harm him, kill him, though they never specified the ‘how’ or ‘who’ or ‘why’, and only said he should obey, and do as told.

And so he did.

He always did.

 

They sent him out to kill for them, with other Soldiers first until they trusted him enough to know he would not try to run. He went on lonely missions by himself, with sky above and land below, and many thousand ways to go about his business. He enjoyed those kinds of missions. They allowed him time alone and space to think, without loud voices all around that would distract him.

So one day, once he had killed his targets and had made his way back to the place where they’d instructed him to wait until the boat would pick him up, he took a seat, put down his blade, and took a breath, and closed his eyes.

 

A noise caused him to raise his head, a whisper of the waves against the stones that formed this little shore on which he sat. And right out there, just out of reach a creature peered at him, mostly submerged, with pink, soft glowing eyes and silver hair, floating around her silent form. She did not move as he looked up, made no attempt to flee, instead she raised her head out of the lake, and smiled at him.

“Why do you rest on pointy stones, in such a heat?” she asked, and cocked her head, and smiled a little more.

He tried to speak, tried to explain his mission here, and that he had to wait until the ship would come to pick him up and bring him back to Midgar. But the simple words eluded him.

The creature huffed a little sigh, as if she had expected this.

“You look like someone who needs help to cross the lake. You cannot swim, I’d judge based on this heavy steel that you attach to what you wear” she mused in this strange voice of hers, that hit a chord he didn’t know but felt run through his body like a deep vibration, or a song.

He shook his head to break the spell, got to his feet and looked at her down in the water.

“I don’t need your help, I’m waiting for a ship” he told her.

But she laughed, and came a little closer, rose a bit so that he got a better look at her slim form. She made no move to cover up her nudity, and did not seem to mind his gaze.

She wasn’t human, that was clear, but similar in build and shape, with leather skin run through with veins, discoloured green and blue and red.

“Are you done staring, boy?” she asked, and laughed at how he looked away from where he’d lingered _far_ too long “So, if you are allow me to make you an offer: Ships are slow, but I am fast and know the way. I’ll carry you across the lake; lead you to where you need to go. What do you say? I’ll save you time! And boredom, too!”

She raised a hand out of the water, held it up towards him with a tender smile.

 

The endless lectures came to mind, the warnings beat into his brain, by teachers, doctors, soldiers, friends – to not go near the water where according to their knowledge dwelled a danger no one seemed to know, but feared, and talked about in tones part awed, part fearful, part intrigued.

On one hand he could feel himself share in their dread. She seemed so kind, but who could know her motives for the offer that she made to him? Was he the first she’d spoken to in this regard? And if so, why? And even if this was a thing she did whenever people came upon this place and did not know a way across, it still seemed strange for her to be in range to see or hear or notice them at all.

But on the other hand… he could not help the way his heart was pulled towards her form, towards the waves in which she hovered, watching him. Patiently waiting for his choice and his response to what she’d said.

And so at last he took a step, and then another, one by one, towards the edge of the small shore where water sloshed against wet stone, corroding slowly, endlessly. Her eyes lit up when she saw that he moved, a grin replaced the smile, revealing teeth like needles, sharp and pointy.

And she moved, reached out, inviting him.

He felt his breath catch in his throat. No sound came out, the only sign of what he felt the shudders running up his spine. Because he _knew_ , he knew for sure, that what she promised was a lie. It had to be – why else would she show such elation, such delight, such predatory glee?

The stone was rough as he went to his knees. He could not say when she had moved, but she was _right there_ , with that smile and burning eyes and skin as cold and hard as ice against his throat.

 

Her arms locked tight around his neck, dragging him down into the lake through rays of light that fluttered, swirled, and broke, and disappeared. Until all that was left was pressure - warm, weightless and dark, clouding his thoughts.

“Come with me now” she said inside his brain, his mind, his head, his heart.

And even though his body screamed, his lungs protested fiercely and with burning pain announced his death… he could not bring himself to care, regret following where she led. He’d had the chance to not give in – a thousand chances – but he chose against all warnings and the voice inside his head that softly spoke of monsters hiding in the deep, below the surface, out of sight.

 

It took around a dozen calls that were not answered for his friends and higher-ups to notice that something was wrong. But when they traced his steps to where he’d disappeared, all that they found there left of him was Masamune laying on the stones, and nothing else.

It was as if he’d simply stepped into a different world and closed the path behind him. Little did they know, the path was clear and right in front of where they stood… but you need eyes to see the way, and water tends to not look much like anything. And least of all a path, to most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will forever be unable to read this in any sort of normal way. But yeah, water and stuff.


	5. When The Cat’s Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feb. 20 || Day 5. Domestic Life  
> Jenova/Ifalna/Lucrecia  
> I’m ridiculously fond of this little pairing. Or, as I like to call them, ‘the Mom Squad’.

“Absolutely not. We are not leaving _her_ alone with the kids”

Jenova could see Lucrecia through the open door, standing with her arms crossed and staring at Ifalna with the most stubborn expression she could muster. The Cetra smiled, unintimidated by Lucrecia’s demeanor.

“Come on Lucy, don’t be like that. You know she takes good care of them! Plus, she has more limbs to hold them still with than both of us combined. It’ll be fine”

This was probably about That One Time Jenova Tried To Steal Lucrecia’s Baby. That was usually what these kinds of arguments were about. One would think Lucrecia would have gotten over that by now, but apparently not. Humans were weird.

“She tried to _steal my baby_ , Lana!”

Definitely about That One Time Jenova Tried To Steal Her Baby.

“That was ages ago, and she learned from her mistake. Right, Jenova?”

Oh dear they were talking to her.

_I wasn’t stealing; I was taking a closer look_ Jenova explained.

It was a lie, but that was okay. Lies were fine as long as nobody got hurt. Aerith had told her that. Aerith knew a lot of things about humans.

“On top of a tree. While I was screaming for you to give back my baby” Lucrecia said dryly. It was amazing how much she sounded like Hojo when she decided to be sarcastic.

_You guys are stupid_ Jenova told the both of them, and hoped that would end the conversation.

It didn’t.

 

“Where are Mom and Lucy going?” Aerith asked, standing on the tips of her toes and trying to look out the window. Jenova watched her struggle for a bit, and then gently lifted her into the air with one of her tentacles.

_I dunno. Maybe we need food._

“If we needed food only one of them would go, and the other would stay here to watch out so you don’t steal Seph”

_I never even stole him! Besides, I gave him back!_

Aerith giggled at Jenova’s offended pout. “You’re getting better at lying!”

_Apparently not, since you can tell I’m doing it._

“I can only tell because I taught you how to do it”

Jenova raised an eyebrow. _I knew how to lie before already. I just didn’t know people lied to each other about such… insignificant things._

Aerith just shook her head, and wriggled out of the alien’s grasp. “So what are we gonna do while they’re gone?” she asked, looking around herself “We don’t even know when they’ll be back!”

_We could go outside and play with Sephiroth!_ Jenova suggested, her tentacles drumming on the floor with excitement. It was warm this time of year, and there would be birds! Birds were nice! And easy to catch! Sephiroth liked it when she caught birds and showed them to him!

“Nu-uh, forget it. Lucy will know, and then she’ll throw things at you again”

_I’m good at dodging._ And catching birds! Very good at catching birds!

“Ooooor we could let Seph sleep, and make some food”

There was a suspicious glint in Aerith’s eyes that Jenova knew meant nothing good. This little Cetra was far too clever for her age, and knew exactly how to get what she wanted. In this case: food. Food was very, very easy.

_What kind of food?_

Aerith knew exactly how easy it was to tempt Jenova with food.

“I know a recipe Mom used to make a lot when we were still with Pa. We can make that!”

_What exactly are we making?_

Hopefully something sweet.

“Cookies!”

And there it was.

 

Ifalna and Lucrecia came home to the kitchen looking like a battlefield and Aerith and Jenova sharing slightly burned-looking cookies in a dangerously lopsided blanket fort in the living room while Sephiroth was sleeping peacefully in a nest of tentacles. Lucrecia was very narrowly stopped from going into a fit of rage at the latter part.

Ifalna decided to take the cookies hostage until the chaotic hell that the kitchen had been turned into was cleaned up, and made sure her daughter didn’t slip away and leave Jenova on her own. She knew full well what a little trickster Aerith was, after all.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?” she asked Lucrecia, who was cradling the still sleeping Sephiroth protectively “They didn’t burn the house down, nobody died, your baby wasn’t stolen by anybody-“

“Yeah, yeah, you can stop now. You were right; I overreacted; now can we please get over this?” Lucrecia sighed “You know what? Fuck it. Give me one of those cookies”

_Those are ours!!_ Jenova yelled from the kitchen.

“Fuck off!!” Lucrecia yelled back.

“Stop swearing in front of our children!!” Ifalna yelled at both of them.

Their yelling was interrupted by Sephiroth (unsurprisingly, who could have seen that coming?) waking from his peaceful slumber and adding his wailing to the ongoing noise.

_You are seriously the worst parent I’ve ever seen_ Jenova told Lucrecia when she and Aerith returned to the living room.

Lucrecia stuck her tongue out at her and grinned. “You’re the only one of us three who doesn’t have a kid, so shut up and mind your own business”

_Everything that carries my cells is technically my offspring. I have so many fucking kids._

“And you abandoned every single one of them, so congratulations for being by far the worst mother out of all of us” Ifalna chimed in.

_Hey! I never abandoned Sephiroth!_

Lucrecia scowled. “Sephiroth is _my_ kid”

_And mine!!_

“He’s _our_ kid” Ifalna interrupted “And we’re all taking very good care of him”

_Then why is he crying?_ Jenova asked, which earned her an angry glare from Lucrecia, a defeated sigh from Ifalna, and a giggling fit from Aerith. _You guys are stupid_ she decided, for the second time that day.

Funny enough, nobody bothered to disagree with her on that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ifalna calls Lucrecia ‘Lucy’ and Lucrecia calls Ifalna ‘Lana’. Nobody calls Jenova ‘Jenny’. Except Aerith. And Sephiroth, when he gets old enough to talk. Lucrecia is gonna absolutely hate that. Maybe. Probably. But not right now.


	6. So Long Ago, So Many Worlds Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feb. 21 || Day 6. Meeting in Another World/Crossovers  
> Jenova/Sephiroth  
> Writer’s block came crashing down with a vengeance and all I could think of to get myself back on track was whatever this is, so here we are.

It’s one of _those_ nights.

Jenova doesn’t sleep, not in the conventional sense of the word, and neither does she dream. She rests, and sometimes comes up with little fantasies to amuse herself, but the concept of dreaming is foreign to her. As is that of nightmares.

She knew humans had these strange fear dreams – how could she not? She was the cause of some of them, after all – but she’d never experienced them up close.

It always takes her a moment to understand what’s going on when Sephiroth wakes up from them. Why he sits up with a start, staring off into the darkness without seeing anything, shaking no matter how warm it is. She could look, of course (his mind is an open book), but she feels that would hurt his trust, so she doesn’t.

Instead she sits and stares at him, waits for him to calm his hectic breathing and pull his mind back from whatever dark place it went.

This one must have been bad. Sephiroth is still sitting tensely with his knees pulled up to his chest, breathing through clenched teeth. She hates to see him like that. It’s one of those human sicknesses that he never seems to be able to shake off completely, no matter how hard he tries.

They sit in the darkness for a while, aware of each other’s presence but alone with their respective thoughts. Then, to her great surprise, Sephiroth speaks.

“Sorry I keep waking you up. I don’t mean to.”

He sounds strained.

_Don’t worry about it. I don’t sleep like you do anyway._

“Still…”

She makes a soft, disapproving humming noise in the back of his mind to signify she doesn’t appreciate him talking back. He falls silent.

_I told you not to worry about it. Worry about yourself, your own wellbeing. And tell me how to help you, if I can._

He doesn’t say anything, but she can just barely make out the way his face scrunches up as he thinks. Finally, he raises his head.

“Tell me a story?”

Jenova pulls back a little in surprise. He’s never asked anything of the sort before. She’s not even sure how that would help his current situation… but then again, maybe he knows that better than she does.

_I… don’t think I have any stories worth telling. Certainly none that would be interesting to you._

“Doesn’t matter. I just need to tune out the noise for a bit. It doesn’t have to be a good story. Just… something. Anything.”

_Alright. If you insist._

She cocks her head to the side and retreats into her memories for a bit, searching for something that might interest him, something that might distract him enough to forget whatever he woke up from. She knows she used to know so many stories… but the moment you need them, of course… Finally she has one that seems suitable enough. It’s not very long or detailed, but she’s always liked this one.

_Far away from this little planet, out among the stars, there was a certain kind of creatures that called themselves the Travellers._

Sephiroth makes a slightly amused _tsk_ ing noise. “What a creative name.”

_M-hmm. They lived very long lives, and spent them roaming the galaxy in search of their Queen, who had disappeared a million millennia ago. Every member of their kind was born with the natural instinct of searching for Her. The Travellers could turn themselves into celestial bodies and cover great distances that way, leaving behind them a bright trail of light. Sentient creatures on planets they passed by would see this trail as a sign of good luck and make wishes to the stars in hopes of being heard by whatever higher being they believed in._

“Oh, so that’s what shooting stars are? Travellers searching for their Queen?”

_According to the tales, yes._

“That’s nice.”

_If you say so. Countless species tried to contact the Travellers, to find out who they were and what they were searching for, but the Travellers had decided amongst themselves to never tell anyone of their lost Queen, fearing that others might find Her before them and steal Her away. So they stayed far away from civilised worlds and turned their eyes towards the darker parts of the cosmos, where there was no life and nobody to disturb them._

_One day, a young Traveller came upon a planet that was different than the others. While all the other worlds were grey, barren wastelands where nothing could ever flourish, this one was covered in strange dark plants and lakes so black you could stand right by the edge of them and peek into the water, and get dizzy with the feeling of looking into a bottomless hole._

_The Traveller found this most curious, and strayed from their path to touch down upon the planet’s surface. They ran their fingers over the dark plants and peeked into the bottomless lakes, and called out to their Queen in hopes She would reveal Herself._

“And did she?”

_No. She didn’t. She wasn’t there at all._

Sephiroth frowned. “That’s sad…”

_The Traveller waited for an answer. But as the hours went by without any response, they grew bored, and decided to take a closer look at one of the black lakes to pass the time._

_They dipped their toes into the water to see how deep it was. And to their great surprise, it only went up to their ankles! So they waded in deeper._

“Was there a monster in the lake?”

_Yes, there was. But none the Traveller could perceive. It was the water itself that was the monster – and so were the plants, and the dirt on the ground, and the air around them. The planet itself was a monster, sleeping quietly, and waiting for someone to devour._

_And when the Traveller left, they took the monster with them, and carried it with them on their travels to new places, further and further away from their original home. None of their kind ever heard of them or met them again, and when the approximate end of their lifecycle was reached they were declared Gone, lost searching for their Queen._

_Other Travellers came to that planet too, much later, and marvelled at the black lakes and strange plants. But they never met the Traveller who carried the monster, or the monster itself._

“Did they ever find their Queen?”

_I don’t know. It’s just some old story._

“I hope they did.”

He turns to his side and closes his eyes, and lets out a little sigh. His breaths come easier now.

“Thank you” he mumbles.

Jenova doesn’t reply, lest she disturb him. She sits in the dark, silent and unmoving, and watches him until he falls asleep again, hopefully to nicer dreams this time.

He has peculiar requests sometimes, she muses. And how strange that _this_ would be the story that would come to mind first… She hasn’t thought of this particular one in a very long time. But then again, she had no reason to.

It’s fascinating, how many things Sephiroth has managed to dig up that she thought she had forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had around a thousand words of SOMA AU here before scrapping it and starting over because it didn’t work… and replacing it with an infodump of 100% entirely made up lore for a character no one cares about. Headcanons, people!


	7. Hot To The Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feb. 22 || Day 7. Free Day  
> Jenova/Sephiroth  
> I had no goddamn clue what to do for this, so I just clicked through the RP generator until I found something that worked… so yeah, welcome to Day 7, where I just kinda do whatever. Or, as the RP generator would say: “Sephiroth and Jenova get caught up in a storm and must stay sheltered together until it passes.”  
> …also kind of dub-con mind control. And lowkey tentacle porn. What even.

“I’m sorry, mother”

“Remind me why you thought it would be a good idea to visit the Northern Crater”

Sephiroth mumbles something unintelligible about nostalgia and good memories. Jenova decides not to scold him for it – it’s not his fault the weather turned, after all, and at the very least they’re _inside_ , where it’s less cold and wet and disgusting. For a moment her thoughts drift towards the original inhabitant of the shack they’ve decided to seek shelter in, who got kicked out into the cold very unceremonsiously and is probably getting stabbed to death by killer rabbits. Maybe. Or maybe he’s actually kind of competent and will survive in the wilderness somehow. Either way, not her problem.

 _Her_ only problem is the fact that the firewood is not going to last the entire night, and her body temperature will start dropping drastically when no longer supplied with an outside heat source. It won’t do her any harm (she was frozen for several thousand years until recently and came out okay, after all), but lower temperatures tend to bring with them the worst of moods and getting irritated at absolutely everything. And Jenova does not have the nerve for that.

Sephiroth seems blissfully unaware of the situation at hand (which he really should not be, he spent five years with her up here for fuck’s sake how has he not caught on yet) and tries to make the best of it by keeping up a steady, comfortable stream of small talk about insignificant but still kind of interesting topics. Jenova lets him. It helps pass the time, and is better than silence.

Sephiroth only stops when he gets up to feed the fire, and finds they’ve run out of wood.

He stands in front of the slowly wavering fire, unmoving and obviously trying to come up with a way to tell her they’re fucked without making it sound too dramatic. After a while he turns around and looks at her apologetically.

“I could go out and find some-“

Jenova interrupts him sharply before he even gets a chance to finish his sentence. “You’re not leaving”

“But your temperature is going to start dropping like this”

Oh, so he didn’t forget. Not very surprising, considering what happened the last time he was around when she was without a heat source in cold climate.

“So, body heat sharing it is then. Come here” she sighs.

He takes a step back. “But mother…“

“Did you hear me ask for your opinion?”

Sephiroth stays silent, and also exactly where he is. If she had to guess he’s probably embarrassed about _something_ again. Gaia knows about what. He seems to always find new things.

But her patience is wearing thin, her body temperature is lowering, and the idea of throwing multiple fireballs across the room to create heat is starting to look pretty inviting, so it’s Time For An Intervention. And if Sephiroth is unwilling to cooperate… well, she has more limbs than he does, and also more willpower. So yeah.

He seems to realise that too, and reluctantly leaves his spot. She stretches out a few of her tentacles and pulls him close, wrapping them around him to ensure he won’t go anywhere.

They spend a few minutes in mutual silence, during which Jenova idly fidgets with the hems of Sephiroth’s clothing. His skin is so warm underneath it, compared to the leather covering it. And so soft, too…

“Already getting bored, huh?” she hears him ask.

“Something like that”

They might as well do something useful while they’re stuck here.

Sephiroth starts squirming when she gets to undressing him in earnest, trying to bat away her many helping appendages.

“I’m pretty sure removing my clothes will be detrimental to maintaining body heat-“

He doesn’t get much further than that because Jenova does not have the patience to deal with his protests right now. All it takes is a single nudge against his mind, and he goes limp in her embrace. Still so easy to control, after all this time.

 _Removing your clothes is not detrimental to anything_ she tells him. _All that’s necessary is to ensure you generate enough heat to make up for it. And that should be easy, no?_

Getting him undressed is so, so easy when he’s not struggling, and within barely any time at all she has him naked and laid out beneath her with tentacles all over his body and his legs spread nice and wide. Inside he is warm and so very soft, giving in easily when she presses further.

Jenova _purrs_ , both aloud and inside his mind.

But it’s not enough – his skin is hot to the touch, but she wants more, she wants closer, she wants _him_. So she straddles Sephiroth, and takes him inside her, hissing in response to the almost pained whimper he lets out. He can take it. She knows he can.

It’s well into the early morning hours when she finally lets him go and releases the control she held over him, satisfied and practically glowing with heat. Sephiroth doesn’t even move, so she picks him up and sets him down on the pile of furs stacked up in a corner. Thinking back on it, they would have been a slightly better choice for fucking than the floor itself, but too late for that now.

She checks whether the sun is going up yet (it’s not), and then joins Sephiroth, who is already half-asleep, once again pulling him close. He snuggles closer to her and mumbles her name, and then passes out fully, unbothered by the dishevelled state he’s in.

No doubt that will be different when he wakes up again in the morning. He will be outraged that she took advantage of him so shamelessly, and stretched him far beyond comfort, and drove him to the brink of exhaustion, and didn’t even let him _do_ anything.

She only hopes the storm will have passed come morning, because she’s pretty sure Sephiroth would object heavily to spending another night here… at least without fire wood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What even is the point of using a generator to find a nice, sfw scenario to put characters in if I then end up somehow turning it into dubcon tentacle porn.

**Author's Note:**

> I crammed so much ‘people being drawn to water’ into this week, it’s amazing… also, tidepools. Never been to one but damn it all to hell, TIDEPOOLS.  
> …going to the ocean totally counts as a hobby >>;;


End file.
